Chad Pecknold

One day former classmate and fellow Franciscan Friar Francisco Palou approached Junípero with the same burning desire, and a plan to make a great missionary to “New Spain” (what is now Mexico). When his confrere asked the learned professor, unaware of his own secret longing, to accompany him on the journey, Fray Junípero wept tears of joy. Together they had the courage to go to the peripheries of a new world to conform themselves more fully to God’s will, to preach the Gospel, and in doing so bring every soul to Christ.

When in Mexico, Junípero gained a reputation for preaching even when no one was around. At Mission San Antonio, the small brown-habited friar was once spotted ringing a great bell that hung from a tall tree, shouting: “Come you pagans; come, come to the Holy Church; come, come to receive the Faith of Jesus Christ.”

When one of his confreres found him, he kindly pointed out that there wasn’t a pagan in sight. Quizzically he asked, “We haven’t even built the church yet? Isn’t the bell ringing a bit much? A bit pointless?” Fray Junípero answered joyfully, “[A]llow my overflowing heart to express itself!” And added, “I wish this bell could be heard throughout the world … or at least by every pagan who inhabits this sierra.” For Junípero, it was the bell of freedom, the bell that called the world to know and love the source of all happiness and joy in Jesus Christ.

Junípero Serra never stopped ringing that bell.

For nine years with the Pame Indians he rang that bell by learning their language — with which he would preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them — and by teaching the natives agricultural skills — with which they could grow the wheat to make the bread that he would consecrate in the Holy Eucharist.

In 1767 he was asked to ring that bell in Baja California, overseeing 13 missions there that had been established by Jesuits but then abandoned when they were recalled to Spain. Very soon after arriving in Baja California, however, a new Spanish plan was conceived for Alta California. This would entail a two-pronged endeavor, combining colonization and conversion. The new plan was to colonize the new territory and spread the Christian faith to its pagan inhabitants. Junípero Serra was asked to help with the latter. He was sent to the northernmost mission, San Diego, in 1769.

Dotted along the coast of California today, like beads of the rosary he prayed, remain the 21 missions he founded successively from 1770 to 1782. Even before the New England colonists declared their independence from another imperial power, Californians were turning towards Christ — and they were doing so because a small-statured theology professor rang that other liberty bell, which shouts in the public square, “Come to the Holy Church! Come to receive the Faith of Jesus Christ!” For this freedom is not simply the freedom from the tyranny of evil, but freedom for the highest Good: to know and love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Blessed Serra wasn’t perfect. He was well aware of his own limitations, imperfections, and failings. In truth, and in humility, Serra wrote,  “There is no reason why my name should be mentioned, except for the blunders I may have committed in doing the work.”

But the Church does not remember his name because of his blunders. We remember his name because his heart was overflowing with a zeal for Christ that did not count the cost and a love of his neighbor’s soul that looked not upon borders. On Sept. 23, 2015, Pope Francis, as supreme pontiff, will canonize him as Saint Junípero Serra, with a holy confidence that his life itself is a kind of bell, which rings for our highest freedom, the freedom of eternal life.

—    Chad Pecknold is an associate professor of systematic theology at The Catholic University of America School of Theology and Religious Studies.

At least 1,500 shirts will be available in the Campus Ministry office beginning on Thursday, Aug. 27, for $10 each. They were designed by Philip Goolkasian, B.S.Arch./B.C.E. 2013. The text “Walk with Francis” emphasizes that the Mass is not simply a visit by a world dignitary, but that Pope Francis has issued a call to action for people to serve others and live out their faith.

In order to support this call to action and in particular the Pope’s emphasis on honoring the rights of workers, the Office of Campus Ministry has invested more in the production of the T-shirts to ensure they are produced ethically in the United States. The money raised by the sale of the shirts will support the four mission trips planned by Campus Ministry for the upcoming year. Students will travel to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over Spring Break and to Belize and Jamaica in May after the close of the spring semester.

In the months leading up to the papal visit, CUA has been featuring Walk with Francis stories on its papal website. The University has invited members of the CUA community to share short anecdotes of the service they provide to their Church, neighborhood, or world and what Walk with Francis means to them. Submissions have been featured on the blog and through social media.

The Archdiocese of Washington also has launched a #WalkwithFrancis pledge campaign, which encourages D.C.-area residents to take a pledge to follow the example of Pope Francis by serving in their community however they can. The pledges will be gathered via social media and on WalkWithFrancis.org. Thousands of the pledges will be compiled into a book that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington and chancellor of Catholic University, will present as a gift to the Holy Father during his visit. For more information on the archdiocese’s campaign or to make a pledge, go to WalkwithFrancis.org.

Father Eric de la Pena

One of the greatest perils of our day is the escalation of violence surrounding us. At times we almost feel helpless to resist it: Violence is readily served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner every time we watch the news or read the newspaper. We get so accustomed to accounts of bloodshed every day that the staggering number of death from war and crimes become mere statistics. What has happened to us? Where are we heading?

Pope Francis — whose namesake, St. Francis, was known as peace maker — certainly remains a prophetic voice in these turbulent times. When many have given up on the slow and difficult task of dialogue and reconciliation, Pope Francis insists that there can be no other alternative to secure the world’s future other than the path to peace. We saw this in action during his second apostolic journey to the Holy Land in May 2014.

Speaking before the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, the Pope offered them these challenging words:  “All of us want peace.  Many people build it day by day through small gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere in their efforts to be peacemakers.  All of us — especially those placed at the service of their respective peoples — have the duty to become instruments and artisans of peace.” Then, in an unprecedented act, the Pope invited the two presidents, Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine and Shimon Peres of Israel, to pray with him in Rome. This invitation was accepted a month later as the two leaders met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Who would have thought that two opposing leaders, from different faiths, could agree to pray for peace? At least, the Pope did!

Like Pope Francis, I don’t think that we have exhausted the path to peace locally and internationally. This is why we never tire of building bridges among peoples at Campus Ministry. Just this May, more than 50 of our students went on to a mission trip to Belize, Jamaica, and the Texas border. There they painted school buildings, played with the kids, served the undocumented immigrants, fed the hungry — they brought smiles to the people they met and served. I’m proud to say that our CUA students were true ambassadors of peace and good will — a great relief from the usual fodder found in newspapers. While the student volunteers sowed seeds of love through their simple acts of kindness, we hope that someday these same seeds will bring about a great harvest of justice and peace.

— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.